Israel OKs trial troop withdrawal

Serge Schmemann, New York Times News ServiceCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Israeli and Palestinian officials agreed late Sunday that Israeli troops would start a trial withdrawal from occupied territory in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Bethlehem on the condition that the Palestinians take responsibility for reducing tensions in those places.

Israel said the withdrawal would begin Monday.

The agreement, reached at a four-hour meeting in Tel Aviv between Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer and Palestinian Authority Interior Minister Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, was the first effort at a cease-fire in the current conflict to be negotiated directly between Israel and the Palestinians. Since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising 22 months ago, more than 2,000 people have died, and several earlier attempts by the United States to mediate a cease-fire have failed.

The agreement was in effect a pilot plan for further moves toward a full cease-fire.

"The steps are essential as a starting point for the future political and security process," Ben Eliezer said in a statement.

On Aug. 5, Ben Eliezer had first proposed a withdrawal only from Gaza, but initial talks faltered. Among other things, the Palestinians insisted that there also be a withdrawal in the West Bank. Contacts resumed last week.

The proposal came to be known as "Gaza First." Israeli forces in Gaza have remained largely on the fringes of populated areas, in contrast to the West Bank, where Israel has occupied seven of the eight major towns since last June. The Israelis contended that because the Palestinian security apparatus remains relatively intact in Gaza, it is a better testing ground for security cooperation.

Despite the agreement, the Israeli hunt for Palestinian militants continued unabated. A military spokesman said the army detained 16 suspects in operations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The major test of the security arrangement was likely to be whether the Palestinian Authority is prepared to crack down on Hamas, the militant Islamic movement. For more than a week, the authority has been holding talks with key Palestinian factions, including Hamas, on a common platform, including a ban on attacks in Israel.

In another development, the Israeli High Court on Sunday granted a coalition of human rights groups a one-week restraining order against the army's use of what has come to be known as the "neighbor practice"--sending a Palestinian bystander to go into a suspect's house to seek his surrender.

The practice came to light Aug. 14, when a 19-year-old Palestinian was shot dead after soldiers ordered him to knock on the door of a Hamas suspect.